THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE
Official Photograph, U. S. Army Air Corps
THE AMERICAN HIGH-ALTITUDE AIRPLANE "XCO5-A"
The supercharger and intercooler are shown on the side of the airplane (see text, page 759).
made a safe landing, his eyes full of ice
and temporarily blinded by the extreme
cold to which he had been exposed during
his long fall-undoubtedly the longest fall
of man since the famous exit of Satan
from the gates of heaven.
There was a glory in this fall, however,
absolutely lacking in that of his predeces
sor; for, although Major Schroeder spent
several weeks in a hospital recuperating,
he had brought down with him a new
world's altitude record and valuable in
formation upon general conditions at high
altitudes and upon the behavior of plane
and engine in them.
WINNING THE "ICICLE CROWN"
I was just beginning my work as a test
pilot and little dreamed, as I helped lift
the limp figure of the pilot from the
plane to the waiting ambulance, that mine
would be the shoulders upon which his
cloak would later fall, or that I would one
day receive from him a gay letter, request
ing, "Mac, I wish that you would look
over the place where I had my bad luck,
and if it needs any attention polish it up
a bit."
I now hold, as one of my most treas
ured possessions, his congratulations upon
my winning from him "the icicle crown,"
as he put it, when I bettered his world's
altitude record.
THE "CEILING" OF THE AIRPLANE, NOT
THE PILOT'S ENDURANCE, LIMITS
'
ALTITUDE FLIGHTS
It is a strange region, this air high
above us, which probably through pure
choice few of us will ever enter, full of
treachery and danger to man, putting
forth obstacles at every stage to halt his
upward progress.
The general impression is that the effects
of cold and hardship upon the pilot are
the chief obstacles to be overcome in alti
tude flights.
This is a misconception which in press
reports has often caused a severe jolt to
my pride, for never have I descended
from an altitude test for lack of physical
endurance or for any reason other than
the breakage of some important part of
the plane or engine, or its failure to func
tion, or simply because the plane would go
no higher.
756